Chapter 04: Operation Cloudburst
Light Imperial Tank x 5 | officers = Scout Leader x 1 Shocktrooper Leader x 1 Light Tank x 2 | aces = None }} Operation Cloudburst is the fourth Chapter of Valkyria Chronicles. The combat mission in this Chapter is called Battle For The Bridge. Story Following on from the previous mission's operation, Eleanor Varrot briefs Welkin; the Militia now has the foothold it needs to assault the bridge. Faldio Landzaat, however, expresses his doubts over the plan; since the Army only intends to begin its assault after the Militia has struck the bridgehead, he sees it as offering the Militia forces to the enemy on a platter. Varrot obviously shares his reservations, but understands that being in the military means attempting such operations, no matter how dangerous. Welkin requests permission to observe the area around the bridge, much to Varrot's puzzlement. The meeting is interrupted by Alicia, who informs Welkin that the other soldiers are arguing; Welkin ponders if it might be better to let them have it out. Alicia is annoyed, telling him he can't just sit in a tent while the squad disintegrates; she runs off with Welkin following close behind. The scene then shifts to Rosie staring down Isara while Largo watches. Welkin demands to know what's happening, to which Rosie states she won't fight alongside a Darcsen. There's a brief argument in which Rosie mentions the Darcsen Calamity, which Isara retorts by saying it is a myth; Rosie belives that Isara is insulting her intelligence and the argument escalates. Largo agrees, saying he won't fight alongside a Darcsen either or take orders from a "hotshot greenhorn" like Welkin. Welkin plans to earn the respect of the two, and lays down his terms; he'll take the bridge back in forty-eight hours. If he can't, he'll resign and leave Largo in charge of Squad 7; but if he does it, Largo and Rosie will accept him as their leader. Largo agrees, telling Welkin "it's your funeral". Later, Welkin is standing by the banks of the Vasel River, looking out over the water. Alicia and Isara approach him. Alicia complains that he made an insane promise, while Isara apologizes for causing the situation they find themselves in. Welkin comforts her by telling her it's not her fault; the war and the mission have everyone on edge. He's hoping this mission will bring the squad together, but he admits he isn't really sure how he'll pull it off. As he watches the river Welkin is suddenly struck with a thought. He explains his epiphany to his two friends off screen. The story returns to Alicia wondering if his idea is even possible, while Isara says she'll get right to work on it. Back in the camp Welkin calls a meeting with his squad; Largo takes the opportunity to remind him it's too late to back out of his promise. Welkin says they're going to attack from the East side; Rosie and Largo assume he's talking about attacking the bridgehead with just Squad 7, and tell him he's just going to get them all killed. Welkin responds that he plans to cross the river, not assault the bridgehead; this just meets with more derision, Largo saying that a couple of soldiers swimming across will be useless without any tanks supporting them. Welkin reveals his plan; the Edelweiss has been fitted with deep-fording gear to drive along the bottom of the river, using the morning fog as cover. Largo points out that the river is deep enough for ships to sail down it, so it must be too deep for a tank to ford, but Welkin points to what he saw earlier: Mistlereed, a plant that grows in river estuaries, which shows this stretch of the river runs shallow. Alicia explains the rest: the Edelweiss will ford the river and clear out any Imperial patrols, then Welkin will use his flaregun to signal the rest of the squad to cross. The scene shifts to the next morning, on the other side of the misty river; two Imperial soldiers hear something in the river, running in terror as the Edelweiss surfaces nearby. Welkin declares the Edelweiss swims just fine, calling out "Fall in, Sevens!" as he fires the flare. In the actual mission briefing, Varrot states that while Squad 7 has the advantage of being behind the enemy lines and not yet detected, Faldio's unit on the other side has already reported an Imperial company moving back across the bridge; time is of the essence if the operation is to succeed. Topography The map is an urban environment with a large number of fully or partially destroyed buildings, only a few totally intact. Enemy bases are located in the Northwest, East and Southeast. A series of numbers on the map indicate areas where tanks are parked; typically, each of these open yards has one active tank and a number of inactive tanks. The Gallian deployment zone is to the Southwest, with sandbags and a watchtower nearby. Roads lead North and East from the starting point; North road is blocked by rubble, turning into an alley, "East Second Street," to the East. East road, "East Third Street," leads past the Southeast camp to the map edge, a road ("Lowflot Lane") leading North from here, meeting the alley from the blocked North road partway along. Landmarks and Street Names *East First Street *East Fourth Street *East Fourth Street *East Second Street *East Third Street *Highplot Lane *Lowplot Lane *Randgriz Boulevard *Vasel River *West Riverside Street Let me brief you on Operation Cloudburst "Let me brief you on Operation Cloudburst. We'll be working with the Vasel Defense Battalion. The enemy is stationed around the east end of the bridge. You have a powerful pair of advantages going for you now. One, you're behind them; two, they don't know you're there. Strike them hard and fast to make the best use of that edge. Your objective is to occupy the enemy's base camp, located at the mouth of the bridge. It's possible the enemy will detect your approach as time goes by. Once they do, count on them calling for backup. Get to that camp fast if you want this to end pretty, Lieutenant. Many enemy tanks are stationed in the area, but some still have their engines shut down, meaning they won't attack you. Any inactive tanks whose radiators aren't glowing and whose cannons aren't in position can be ignored completely. Also, it looks like they've got tanks of extra ragnite fuel sitting around throughout the area. A gunshot should be able to detonate those and hopefully take out any nearby tanks or foot soldiers with it." 'Mission objectives' Victory *The enemy base camp is captured Failure *10 turns pass *Welkin dies *The enemy occupies Gallia's base camp *All ally soldiers and reserves are killed "Operation Cloudburst is set to begin. I know you all can make this work." Strategy *Before the mission starts, ensure that you have visited the headquarters and spent the Exp and Ducats earned in the previous mission. Equip your troops and armored vehicles with the latest weapons and upgrades. *Deploy a balanced fighting force with a sniper and one or two lancers including or as well as your three leader units Alicia, Largo and Rosie. This will be your second time deploying your squad so you should be starting to understand your troops their classes and their strengths and weaknesses. *It is worth noting that this is the first mission where it's possible to not deploy Squad 7's Leader characters, though you will lose the bonus CP they provide. *There are five actual Light Tanks in this map; any tank which does not appear on the map as an enemy and calls itself "Imperial Tank" instead of "Light Tank" when aimed at is just destroyable scenery, and can be ignored - there's no bonus for destroying the inactive tanks. In addition, Ragnite fuel canisters are scattered around the map, typically close to the starting positions of the real tanks. Shooting these will destroy the inactive tanks outright and severely damage the real ones if they're caught in the blast. *The most important thing to note is that the blue arrow in the mission briefing points through a destroyable wall on the actual map; while it's not obvious, it can be destroyed with Grenades to create a shortcut to the enemy's main flag. *Destroy the North wall with a grenade or lancer and destroy the tank you find beyond it along with any infantry. *Bring up your Shocktrooper into the breach in the wall and destroy the Northwest Ragnite canister; this should destroy one of the parked tanks and reveal the Shocktrooper Leader. Gun him down and take cover behind the parked tank nearby; this will prevent the three tanks in this area attacking. *If you're lucky the enemy should waste most of its CP shuffling tanks around this turn, leaving you in a position to advance West past the crouching Scout, then North towards the wall of the building. Throw a grenade at the Shocktrooper by the enemy Base Flag, finishing him off with gunfire, then gun down the Scout and capture the flag. *If the battle drags on the enemy will attempt to call for reinforcements on the third turn, however if the Northeast base has been captured, Isara will fool the enemy by radioing that everything is ok there. This ploy will delay the call for reinforcements until the fourth turn, when the base camp realizes what's going on. The reinforcements will consist of 1 Scout, 2 Shocktroopers, and 1 lancer deployed at the enemy's Base Flag. A Rank strategy First, deploy a balanced fighting force with a sniper (either Marina or Catherine) and either one or two shocktroopers (such as Hannes and Jane), an engineer, as well as your three leader units Alicia, Largo and Rosie. Make sure to reserve at least one spot on your active unit list, in order to summon a lancer later (preferably Jann), once you've captured the first enemy base. Also, make sure to place Rosie and Largo at the top row of the squad along with the sniper, whereas Alicia and the shocktrooper should be in the centre row of the squad. Next, use the first 2 CPs to move Rosie and take out the first enemy shocktrooper, and then race closer towards the wall before ending her turn. Third, send your sniper onto the top of the tower, and take out first 2 Ragnite fuel canisters with a careful aim, and then move down the ladder for cover, followed by your shocktrooper shooting down the enemy scout guarding the first enemy camp with a headshot. After that, your lancer (Largo) should move in and destroy the enemy leader light tank, and your shocktrooper should take out the enemy leader scout right next to it. Fourth, move your lancer (Largo) to capture the first enemy camp and knock off the wall, and hold his position as he ends turn. On the enemy phase, they would try to shoot right at you, so be careful. Finally, on Turn 02, move Largo and Jann respectively to take out remaining tanks; as for Rosie, first, she should go around the wall, place a careful shot with the enemy leader and Ragnite fuel canister in her line of fire, before racing northwest towards the enemy base camp, throwing out a grenade to knock out 2 enemy troops guarding the camp, so she could capture it afterwards (you might have to shoot down either one of the enemy troops before capturing the enemy camp.) Rewards Aftermath Having taken the bridge's control room, and with an Imperial force crossing the bridge to attack, Welkin orders Isara to raise the bridge. The Bridge opens with the Imperial column still crossing it, dropping most of them into the river below. With the bridge open again, Varrot congratulates Welkin on his plan's success. Largo and Rosie express their disbelief that the plan actually worked, but Alicia demands they keep to their side of the bargain; they begrudgingly accept, though Rosie says she still doesn't have to like "Dark-Hairs." Alicia objects, but Isara simply says she's used to it. She expresses her hope that someday Darcsens will be accepted in society as equals. Ellet soon arrives, and questions Welkin on his first victory and asking him if he has anything to say. He talks about bridges; how they link routes together and comments that he'd like to become the same to his squad, linking the members together. There's a final moment as Alicia releases a few Lion's Paw seeds, hoping that once the war is over and peace returns to Gallia, they'll see the flowers blooming and it will feel like home again. Notes/Trivia *This map is a variation of that used for Chapter 17: The Bridge to Hope and the ninth skirmish. This version is extended to the South, but cuts off the North end of the larger map along with the far East. *The combat missions in this Chapter and the previous one were most likely inspired by the battle for Pegasus Bridge. Since military aircraft seemingly don't exist in the Valkyria Chronicles universe, the soldiers instead infiltrate by boat with the Edelweiss wading along the bottom of the river. *Apparently Ragnite engines and combustion engines are totally unrelated mechanically, or at least the reaction doesn't need air since the Edelweiss fords the river without using a snorkel. *The bridge is a more than slightly impressive piece of over-engineering, considering it can still open with around three hundred tons of tanks moving across it. *The Edelweiss crossing river by going under the water is probably inspired by Germany's plan to invade Britain by sending their Panther tanks under the English Channel in WW2. Category:Valkyria Chronicles Category:Valkyria Chronicles Missions